Hello,
Found this forum when I was researching the Taig equipment. Looks to be a great forum.
I’m a retired telecom guy looking for a hobby that will take up some of my spare time, which I seem to have too much of.

I’m new to all this and still considering what to buy, so I have a few questions.

Thinking of trying my hand at making LTD Stirling Engine, Tesla Turbine and/or other types of small hot air engines. I picked up “Low Temperature Differential Stirling Engines by James R. Senft” and “Building The Tesla Turbine by Vincent R. Gingery” books and will be going by their plans/suggestions on building.

At this time I do not have a mill or lathe, I do have a desktop CNC router running Mach3 that I use for wood and acrylic. I use VcarvePro and PhotoVcarve.

I have never done any metal type machining so starting from the gate.

I am 99.9% sure I will be getting the Taig mill and lathe. I have looked at other machines in the mini mill and lathe category and always come back to the Taig equipment. I am looking for a bolt on solution for cncing and then there is the “Made in America” which is always my first choice.

Some of the material I will be wanting to work with: bronze, copper, brass, acrylic, aluminum, 20 gage 304 stainless steel, 304 stainless steel rod, ¼ inch cool roll steel.

Plan on using Keling’s electronic kits using the G540.

I doubt I will have the funds together to buy the mill and lathe plus electronics/hardware to cnc both at the same time.

I need help in which go get first.

1. A mill with a 4th axis
2. Lathe with milling attachment

Any suggestion on which option to start with would be much appreciated.

Example of what I would like to build.
LTD Stirling Engine
http://www.homemetalshopclub.org/news/mar99/jkmiser.jpg

Gingery’s Tesla Turbine

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/ttur/index.html

Thanks for any suggestions
George

Welcome to the Taig Owners Club Gearge...

we have Several Members that are into Model engines that may be able to help you out

Hello George,

Welcome to hobby machining. It is a lot of fun and there is always something to learn.


Having both the mill and lathe would be a great advantage, and I feel actually necessary for projects like those you have mentioned.

I suggest buying a fairly basic lathe package which would include three and four jaw chucks and the tailstock for drilling. I would not buy the lathe milling attachment. You can mill with it, but it won't be very handy. Also, for the time being at least, I'd leave the lathe as a manual machine.

At the same time I'd buy the 2019 CR-ER mill. The ER-16 collets are a very handy. If at this point, you can proceed with CNCing the mill I'd do that and it is easy with the CNC ready mill. If you are not ready to CNC the mill, I'd add handles and run it manually to get started. The 4th axis could, in my opinion, be added later.

As you can imagine, there will be plenty of small tooling to buy. I'd buy it as needed for your projects and when it comes to taps, buy the very best from MSC, Travers, or the like. Hardware store taps will let you down by breaking off and usually in the last hole to be tapped. A good tooling plate is nice as it helps with the work holding and protects the mill table.

I find my CNC Taig mill very useful and would hate to go back to manual only. I have a Taig lathe which I plan to CNC as I think CNC on the lathe would be nice for threading, but manual operation has worked very well for most of my lathe work. I'm not knocking the CNC lathe, but just feel I'd put my CNC money into the mill first.

Currently I use a full size manual lathe, a full size manual mill, a manual Sherline lathe, and the CNC Taig mill. I've added the small machines over the last couple years and have been amazed at how many of the small model engine parts now go to the little machines. They are very capable and seem easier to use on the small parts. The Taig lathe was a recent purchase and I bought it with CNC in mind as a future project.

So, there you have my opinions/suggestions etc all based on my personal experience and biases. I am sure you will get good suggestions from others in the group.

Keep asking questions and join the fun.

Regards,

Chuck Kuhn

Hi George,

Don't I know you from the VCarve forum? Welcome to the TOC

Chcuk has pretty much summed it up quite well, I might add

Dave

Hi George and welcome,

This is a great spot to learn about the Taig!

Chuck
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and for your suggestions. Looks like you have the experience and equipment, so IMO I would be a bit stupid to disregard it. I will get the lathe first (a bit after I pay the tax man) and purchase what you suggested. If it goes like my CNC router did when I first got it I will be breaking more than a few cutters and filling up the trash with miss cut stock.

Dave, yep that’s me in the Vcarve forum, I spend way too much time there and on the CNCZone and now it looks like I will be allocating time here also.

Jeff, I agree, I already read every post here (I think) before I signed up. This forum was what pushed me to the Taig equipment rather than some other stuff I was looking at.

Have some more questions but the belong in different sections of the forum.

Thanks again for the replies.

George

Hello George,

You may know this, but I wanted to make sure. NAMES, the big model show in Toledo, OH, is coming right up April 18 and 19, with a set up day on the 17th for vendors and exhibitors. There will be many examples of the engines you are interested in on display, plus all sorts of other mechanical models. Great show and a good time.

http://www.modelengineeringsoc.com/expo.htm

Regards,

Chuck

Thanks for the link Chuck, did not know about the show but I would not be able to make it this year. Some very impressive work in the Gallery on that site.

george

There are some other shows during the year. What part of the world are you located in? (If you don't mind saying)

Regards,

Chuck

Hi Chuck

Don't mind at all. Live in Cypress Texas (Houston).